Sunday, July 25, 2010

LINGER BLOG TOUR

I am so excited to be a part of this wonderful blog tour for LINGER!! So without further ado here is the long awaited interview with Maggie Stiefvater!! BTW - Winner of the book is at the bottom!

1. What all do you do when preparing your novel? Create an outline, movie trailer, book cover, character collages, or a music playlist?

I drink a lot of caffeine.

No, really I do. And then I write the book. Well, sort of. I tend to think that a lot of prep work that I used to do when I was younger was actually procrastinating. Character sketches are fun but don’t actually help me when it comes to putting that personality into practice in a novel. Book covers are also fun, but again, don’t actually do anything. Outlines are a little better, but I’m not good at being that organized. What I really need before I get started is the end scene, a rough understanding of the main characters and how they’ll interact, and several core scenes along the way. I used to call this a synopsis but I understand now that it isn’t, really.

I will say I use music playlists like they’re going out of style. It’s really important to me to know what the mood of my novel’s going to be, so I make playlists of music that will keep me in that frame of mind.

And again, more tea. And cookie dough helps too.

2. Have you ever had an embarrassing moment as an author? Any while book signing?

Well, at one book signing at my daughter’s school, she threw up while standing in front of the signing table. Does that count? I’d never actually inspired anyone to be physically sick before.

3. Are you one that creates your characters based on what you strive to be, based on yourself or based on real people? A mixture is allowed too!!

Yes, my characters are all super-hero authors and musicians with nicer abs than mine, better vacuuming habits, and bigger cars. Men want them and women want to be them. Not only do I strive to be them, but everyone does. Sheer awesome.

Actually, no. I try as much as awesome to make my characters real people, or people who could be real. My idea of success is if a character reminds a reader of someone they actually know or if they close the book and miss the characters because they feel real.

4. When did you decide you wanted to professionally write? What there an Ah-ha moment or have you always known?

I can’t actually remember a time when I wasn’t writing or fantasizing about being published. I had lists of books that I was planning to write when I was eight. I used to make catalogs of them and try to get my relatives to pre-order.

Yes, I was a strange child.

5. Was there ever another genre you thought you’d write in or have you always chosen this route?

I’m a big believer in the idea that you should write what you love to read. I’ve always loved to read books with a bit of magic in them, but not high fantasies, so . . . that’s usually what I write. Except for that brief time in my teens when I wrote about four IRA thrillers that sounded like they should star Harrison Ford. And that one really awful historical blockade runner novel. And the one high fantasy one about enchanters duking it out against an angsty backdrop of civil unrest. What can I say, we’re all experimental in our childhoods. Some things are best left unseen by the public.

6. With Shiver had you known there would be a sequel before you started writing?

Nope. I tend to prefer standalones, myself, unless each series book has a very definitive end. And now look at me!

Isn't she awesome!!! So to find out more about her here are some sites you can visit!

Such a great interview! I bought Linger yesterday, and I can't wait to read it! I love that she made a catalog of her book ideas and tried to make her parents pre-order them--that's so something I would have done :)

Thanks for the interview, Jen and Maggie. I like the way you create your characters, keeping them real and relatable to your readers. To me, those are the best kind, the ones that leave you thinking afterwards.

hi miss jen! this was another really good interview. i like knowing that miss maggie started writing real young 'cause that makes me feel good to keep writing my stuff. maybe i shoud do that preordering thing. nah! my family would shoot me. ha ha....hugs from lenny

Great interview! It was fun to learn more about Maggie. I love that she was fantasizing about writing lots of books when she was a kid... I did the same thing (and still do to some extent, since my ideas tend to outstrip my writing time).